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Our love for other people should be not only for those with whom we have good relations, but also those who hate us. Our Lord states:

You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect. (Matthew 5:43-48)

Tertullian notes that this attitude is unique to Christians. This is because, as St. Silouan the Athonite says, “The soul that has not known the Holy Spirit does not understand how one can love one’s enemies, and does not accept it.”

Clement of Alexandria aptly points out that we do not love what our enemies do to us, but nonetheless we must love them as humans made in the image of God: “Loving one’s enemies does not mean loving wickedness, ungodliness, adultery, or theft. Rather, it means loving the thief, the ungodly person, and the adulterer. Not as far as he sins (in respect of the actions by which he stains the name of man), but as he is a man and is the work of God.”

We should give special attention to Christ’s exhortation to pray. There are two things for which we should pray in relation to our enemies.

First, because it seems unnatural to humans to love our enemies, we should pray that God will empower us to engage in such love. St. Silouan, who experienced difficulty in loving his enemies, says regarding his experiences, “I continuously beg the Lord to give me the love of enemies…Day and night I ask the Lord for this love. The Lord gives me tears and I weep for the whole world.” He further explains, “If we are incapable (of loving our enemies) and if we are without love, let us turn with ardent prayers to the Lord, to His Most Pure Mother, and to all the Saints, and the Lord will help us with everything, He whose love for us knows no bounds.” He further prayed, “Lord, teach us through Your Holy Spirit to love our enemies and to pray for them with tears…Lord, as you prayed for your enemies, so teach us also, through the Holy Spirit, to love our enemies.”

Second, we should pray directly for our enemies. One example of such a prayer can be found in the Orthodox Study Bible: “Save, O Lord, and have mercy upon those who envy and affront me, and do me harm, and do not let them perish through me, a sinner.” St. Nicolai of Ochrid gives a more extensive prayer:

Bless my enemies, O Lord. Even I bless them and do not curse them.

Enemies have driven me into Thy embrace more than friends have.

Friends have bound me to earth, enemies have loosed me from earth and have demolished all my aspirations in the world.

Enemies have made me a stranger in worldly realms and an extraneous inhabitant of the world.

Just as a hunted animal finds safer shelter than an unhunted animal does, so have I, persecuted by enemies, found the safest sanctuary, having ensconced myself beneath Thy tabernacle, where neither friends nor enemies can slay my soul.

Bless my enemies, O Lord. Even I bless them and do not curse them.

They, rather than I, have confessed my sins before the world.

They have punished me, whenever I have hesitated to punish myself.

They have tormented me, whenever I have tried to flee torments.

They have scolded me, whenever I have flattered myself They have spat upon me, whenever I have filled myself with arrogance.

Bless my enemies, O Lord. Even I bless them and do not curse them.

Whenever I have made myself wise, they have called me foolish.

Whenever I have made myself mighty, they have mocked me as though I were a dwarf.

Whenever I have wanted to lead people, they have shoved me into the background.

Whenever I have rushed to enrich myself, they have prevented me with an iron hand.

Whenever I thought that I would sleep peacefully, they have wakened me from sleep.

Whenever I have tried to build a home for a long and tranquil life,they have demolished it and driven me out.

Truly, enemies have cut me loose from the world and have stretched out my hands to the hem of Thy garment.

Bless my enemies, O Lord. Even I bless them and do not curse them.

Bless them and multiply them; multiply them and make them even more bitterly against me:

So that my fleeing to Thee may have no return;

So that all hope in men may be scattered like cobwebs;

So that absolute serenity may begin to reign in my soul;

So that my heart may become the grave of my two evil twins: arrogance and anger;

So that I might amass all my treasure in heaven;

Ah, so that I may for once be freed from self deception, which has entangled me in the dreadful web of illusory life.

Enemies have taught me to know what hardly anyone knows, that a person has no enemies in the world except himself.

One hates his enemies only when he fails to realize that they are not enemies, but cruel friends.

It is truly difficult for me to say who has done me more good and who has done me more evil in the world: friends or enemies.

Therefore bless, O Lord, both my friends and my enemies. 

A slave curses enemies, for he does not understand.

But a son blesses them, for he understands. For a son knows that his enemies cannot touch his life. Therefore he freely steps among them and prays to God for them.

Bless my enemies, O Lord. Even I bless them and do not curse them.